Legislature cuts budget by 1.91 percent

TALKS:The voting on the budget cuts followed days of cross-party negotiations that managed to reduce the number of budget cut proposals from 3,000 to 57

By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter

The KMT voted to keep education subsidies for government retirees, benefits to cover hospital registration fees for active and retired military personnel and their families, relief bonuses granted to retired government employees at the Lunar New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, and subsidies for insurance premiums for seniors insured under the Civil Service Insurance Scheme, among others.

The plenary meeting was idled yesterday by a TSU’s boycott and it did not begin until 7:30pm, after the TSU’s three demands were accepted by the KMT in consultation with the government.

The first demand was that the government proceed with the opposition’s demand for a Cabinet reshuffle to address economic and livelihood issues.

Second, the opposition demanded the government refer anti-media monopoly bills to the legislature for review by March 22 and that the government not approve the Next Media acquisition or any other media mergers before the bills are enacted.

Finally, the opposition demanded that an earlier legislative decision that only profit-making state-owned enterprises distribute company-performance bonuses to their employees and that the bonuses be capped under 1.2 months’ salary be respected.